Blogs

The success of any project isn’t measured by what occurs when you’re around, but by what happens once you’re gone. That was the dilemma in Peru as the Knight Fellowship was approaching its final stage. Sustainability: How would all this training of journalists continue without the presence of the Knight Fellow?

Throughout the year, we had been working with two journalists from Red TV, a 40-station network that reaches more than one third of Peru's TV viewers.

All the polls leading up to the June 5 runoff election indicated it would be a tight race between Nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala, and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses. How best to serve voters and viewers?

Presidential Candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczunski is groped by an anonymous woman during a crowded campaign event. Needless to say, the image of a woman bending over and closely inspecting the presidential hopeful created quite a stir. And the photo was quite easily one of the most commented and uploaded in Peru that day.

When you mention Peru, most people think of llamas, the imposing Andes, and the mythical Machu Picchu without realizing that over 60 percent of its territory is jungle. Actually, the Amazon River which is surrounded by some of the thickest rain forest in the world, begins high above the Peruvian Andes, and winds its way 4,000 miles into the Atlantic.

This portion of Peru is referred to as La Selva, or the jungle, one of the three distinct regions in the country. The other two are La Costa (the Coast) and La Sierra (the Mountains).

Vargas Llosa was born in Arequipa, but only lived there until the age of four. Still, he is considered the city’s pride and joy even though the city didn’t always show it. His childhood home still stands, but was recently sold to a company that was going to turn it into a center to help poor women. And, in a move right out of the best Hollywood movie, the announcement that Vargas Llosa won a Nobel put a stop to the remodel just in the nick of time.

The first thing you notice when you meet Emily is just how tiny she is. She’s small because she suffers from a genetic disorder which makes it nearly impossible for her to defecate. The medicines to keep her alive cost about $12 a day… and her parents make only $10 a day between the two of them, while feeding three children.

The first step in establishing a permanent training system in Peru takes place, as the nine stations are close to coming on board.

I love to run, something I’ve continued to do in Peru. But I never expected to find THIS growing under my shoe a mere 48 hours after my last outing! Mold. It’s one of the biggest problems in Lima, a city with one of the highest asthma levels in the world. But what really surprise me was how fast it grew. If only the rest of business in Peru moved as quickly...

Thousands of potatoes, the world's best coffee, and the secret to getting married take center stage at Peru's largest food festival.

Finding a boyfriend and getting married in Peru must be pretty difficult. That is if you follow the tradition behind the Yana Piña potato, also known as the "Mother-in-Law Potato." According to tradition, before a girl can get married she needs to prove her love- and worth- to her future mother-in-law by peeling this grenade-looking thing...